Drought-hit farmers leave Andhra Pradesh, crop acreage shrinks

VIJAYAWADA: With the monsoon playing hooky and all major reservoirs turning bone-dry, AP is in the grip of the agrarian crisis. The distress is triggering a mass migration of farmhands to other states in search of livelihood.

While hundreds of farmers are moving to various cities in Kerala, Karnataka and other states, some of them have migrated to the Palnadu region in Guntur and Prakasam to work as agricultural labourers during the ongoing chilli harvest season. Work in chilli fields fetches them anywhere between ` 200 and ` 500 per person per day.

“I am a groundnut cultivator. I have decided not to raise the crop during the ra bi season as I cannot afford to incur more losses. I am still reeling under losses suffered during the last kharif season. We have no water for irrigation or drinking purposes. So my wife and I have decided to migrate to Guntur so that we can earn some money,“ said

Kesava Reddy

from Dhone mandal in Kurnool.

With the exodus of thousands of farmers to other states, only 19.5 lakh hectares, as against the targeted 27.26 lakh hectares, is under cultivation. And, as so wing activity has come to a close in the rabi season, which ends by mid-March, the area under acreage will not increase . This means the rabi acreage has shrunk by more than 7 lakh hectares. “This is probably the largest shrinkage in one agricultural season in 50 years. Close to 30% of the targeted area has remained uncultivated,“ said former member of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research M V S Nagi Reddy.

Even during kha rif-2016, more than 2.5 lakh hectares remained uncultivated in the state due to drought. Nagi Reddy said outward migration was rampant in Rayalaseema, forcing farmers to work in industries in other southern states.

“Normally, water for irrigation is a problem during the Rabi season. Knowing this fully well, why did the government not come up with a contingency plan?
This is an alarming situation,“ he added. Unconfirmed reports say that more than three lakh farmers and agricultural workers have left their villages in the last three months in search of employment in other places.

“The migrations are not just confined to the four districts of Rayalaseema. Prakasam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam and other coastal districts ryots too are moving to various cities in search of work,“ a leader of AP

Rythu Sangham

said.